Adopt-a-Book Proposal a. Citation for book (In APA style) Kumashiro, K. K. (2012). Bad teacher!: how blaming teachers distorts the bigger picture. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University. b. Summary of book's argument taken as best you can from the introduction. Kumashiro raises three overarching questions and he tries to answer them. First, are current reforms making America’s schools look more like the best schools in our nation and the world, or are they further widening the gap? Second, are current reforms building on sound research or do they fall back on common sense? Are current reforms guided by a vision in which all of America’s children can flourish, or are they framed by a commonsensical story that has led to the opposite outcome? Each chapter, from chapter one to chapter four is connected closely. The process of cautious reasoning develops with the chapter moves on. The author tries to answer these three questions from perspectives in each chapter. This book examines current education reforms in the United States, with particular emphasis how the language used to talk about such reforms masks the bigger picture. Chapter 1 describes the commonsensical ideas that permeate public perceptions about school reform and the role of the teacher. Chapter 2 illustrates the power of framing to influence public opinion, and highlights four prevailing frames about school reform: fear, value, standards, and competition. Chapter 3 turns especially to teacher preparation, and examines initiatives to redefine teacher quality and preparedness. Chapter 4 follows the money by tracing the role of philanthropy and corporations in shaping educational reform, with particular attention to examples in Chicago. The conclusion offers suggestions for reframing the debate about educational reform and reclaiming public education, including an advocacy framework for engaging in multiple strategies to bring about change.
c. Brief description of author's background. Kevin K. Kumashiro, ph.D.,is professor of Asian American Studies and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was formerly chair of the Department of Educational Policy Studies. He has taught in schools and colleges across the United States and abroad, and has served as a consultant for schools, districts, organizations, and agencies. He has authored or edited eight books, including Troubling Education, which received the 2003 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award. His more recent books include Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning Toward Social Justice, and the Seduction of Common Sense: How the Right has Framed the Debate on America’s Schools. In 2002, He founded the center for Anti-Opressive Education, and in 2012, he will become president of the National Association for Multicultural Education.
d. Description of the scope your reading, e.g. what chapters, (with titles) you plan to read. How was your decision about what to read influenced by your goals concerning the book? Each chapter of this book is logically and clearly organized and connected. If time permits, I plan to read the whole book. Until now my main interest is in chapter 1 of this book: "Common Sense about Education Reform". It gives me basic background knowledge to understand the following chapters. Besides, I took the course Chinese Education Reform two years ago and I read some articles about common sense about Chinese educational reform too. I want to see whether Chinese educators and American educators have the same common sense about educational reform, especially the common sense of competition between schools and that between students. The author’s thinking of competition, especially the competition in test scores is very interesting and profound. It offers me a perspective from which I can understand the goal and the effects of NCLB. Is the goal of educational reform to make losers? Kumashiro’s understandings of competition Introduction
Winners and Losers
Problems and solutions
Heroes and villains
Chapter 1: Common Sense About Educational Reform
It’s all about the teacher
Bad teacher!
Chapter 2: The power of framing
Capitalizing on fear
Family values
Competition solves all
Conclusion: Reclaiming Public Education
Five minutes on Oprah
Chicago at a “teachable moment”
A framework for advocacy
e. How do you see the knowledge gained from your portion of the book contributing to the class's understanding of schools, teaching, and/or school reform
As far as I concern, the interpretation of competition is crucial to understand education reform. It seems like that teachers, students, and parents are thinking about education and educational reform based on students’ performance on competition of scores and it is the competition that distorts the big picture. What is truth behind the competition of scores? What is the relationship between competition and NCLB? And what teachers are supposed to do to deal with the competition?
A.Citation for Book Kumashiro, K. K. (2012). Bad teacher!: how blaming teachers distorts the bigger picture. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.
B. Summary of Chapters to Read
Chapter 1 describes the commonsensical ideas that permeate public perceptions about school reform and the role of the teacher. First, education means the K-12 classroom. Kumashiro argues that education is a complex system which includes more actors than what teachers are doing in classrooms. Second, education is what happens between teachers, students, and parents. Kumashiro calls on readers to think of failures and success of education critically from a broader perspective. Third, education requires first teaching the basics. This conception narrows the content of teaching because innovations in curriculum and instruction are blamed. Fourth, education may be in crisis broadly and in the abstract, but concrete changes are possible if one focuses locally. Fifth, one’s responsibility to educational reform is to address the education of one’s own child. Then Kumashiro believes that common sense narrows our vision to the level of the individual and defines the good teacher in a pretty narrow framing.
Chapter 2 illustrates the power of framing to influence public opinion, and highlights four prevailing frames about school reform: fear, value, standards, and competition. The fear over a failing educational system has helped to advance the standards –and-testing movement, which in turn creates opportunities for profit. The four frames of standards, accountability, sanctions, and choice become linked together by a metaphor, the strict-father family, which make the four frames inseparable from one another. The move toward standards-as-standardization has resulted in curriculum that is more stratified than before and in instruction that is more regulated than before. It is has been proven fault that competition is what will make schools and teachers better.
C. Reaction
Kumashiro tries to inspire the reader to be out-of–the–box thinkers and rethink of the going education system with following questions. What is education? What is the goal of education? What is the education in the public’s eyes? Why they think of education in these ways? What is the truth behind these common senses about education?
The two chapters enlighten me a lot. It equips me with a broader perspective through which rethink the educational reform. Education is a system which includes many elements except for teachers, students, and parents. When we think about educational reform we should take many elements into considerations, such as politicians’ trick, businessmen’ profit, culture elements and so on. What impressed me most is the way of reasoning. His logic is very clear and convincing.
a. Citation for book (In APA style)
Kumashiro, K. K. (2012). Bad teacher!: how blaming teachers distorts the bigger picture. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.
b. Summary of book's argument taken as best you can from the introduction.
Kumashiro raises three overarching questions and he tries to answer them. First, are current reforms making America’s schools look more like the best schools in our nation and the world, or are they further widening the gap? Second, are current reforms building on sound research or do they fall back on common sense? Are current reforms guided by a vision in which all of America’s children can flourish, or are they framed by a commonsensical story that has led to the opposite outcome? Each chapter, from chapter one to chapter four is connected closely. The process of cautious reasoning develops with the chapter moves on. The author tries to answer these three questions from perspectives in each chapter. This book examines current education reforms in the United States, with particular emphasis how the language used to talk about such reforms masks the bigger picture. Chapter 1 describes the commonsensical ideas that permeate public perceptions about school reform and the role of the teacher. Chapter 2 illustrates the power of framing to influence public opinion, and highlights four prevailing frames about school reform: fear, value, standards, and competition. Chapter 3 turns especially to teacher preparation, and examines initiatives to redefine teacher quality and preparedness. Chapter 4 follows the money by tracing the role of philanthropy and corporations in shaping educational reform, with particular attention to examples in Chicago. The conclusion offers suggestions for reframing the debate about educational reform and reclaiming public education, including an advocacy framework for engaging in multiple strategies to bring about change.
c. Brief description of author's background.
Kevin K. Kumashiro, ph.D.,is professor of Asian American Studies and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was formerly chair of the Department of Educational Policy Studies. He has taught in schools and colleges across the United States and abroad, and has served as a consultant for schools, districts, organizations, and agencies. He has authored or edited eight books, including Troubling Education, which received the 2003 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award. His more recent books include Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning Toward Social Justice, and the Seduction of Common Sense: How the Right has Framed the Debate on America’s Schools. In 2002, He founded the center for Anti-Opressive Education, and in 2012, he will become president of the National Association for Multicultural Education.
d. Description of the scope your reading, e.g. what chapters, (with titles) you plan to read. How was your decision about what to read influenced by your goals concerning the book?
Each chapter of this book is logically and clearly organized and connected. If time permits, I plan to read the whole book. Until now my main interest is in chapter 1 of this book: "Common Sense about Education Reform". It gives me basic background knowledge to understand the following chapters. Besides, I took the course Chinese Education Reform two years ago and I read some articles about common sense about Chinese educational reform too. I want to see whether Chinese educators and American educators have the same common sense about educational reform, especially the common sense of competition between schools and that between students. The author’s thinking of competition, especially the competition in test scores is very interesting and profound. It offers me a perspective from which I can understand the goal and the effects of NCLB. Is the goal of educational reform to make losers?
Kumashiro’s understandings of competition
Introduction
Chapter 1: Common Sense About Educational Reform
Chapter 2: The power of framing
- Capitalizing on fear
- Family values
- Competition solves all
Conclusion: Reclaiming Public Education- Five minutes on Oprah
- Chicago at a “teachable moment”
- A framework for advocacy
e. How do you see the knowledge gained from your portion of the book contributing to the class's understanding of schools, teaching, and/or school reformAs far as I concern, the interpretation of competition is crucial to understand education reform. It seems like that teachers, students, and parents are thinking about education and educational reform based on students’ performance on competition of scores and it is the competition that distorts the big picture. What is truth behind the competition of scores? What is the relationship between competition and NCLB? And what teachers are supposed to do to deal with the competition?
A.Citation for Book
Kumashiro, K. K. (2012). Bad teacher!: how blaming teachers distorts the bigger picture. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.
B. Summary of Chapters to Read
Chapter 1 describes the commonsensical ideas that permeate public perceptions about school reform and the role of the teacher. First, education means the K-12 classroom. Kumashiro argues that education is a complex system which includes more actors than what teachers are doing in classrooms. Second, education is what happens between teachers, students, and parents. Kumashiro calls on readers to think of failures and success of education critically from a broader perspective. Third, education requires first teaching the basics. This conception narrows the content of teaching because innovations in curriculum and instruction are blamed. Fourth, education may be in crisis broadly and in the abstract, but concrete changes are possible if one focuses locally. Fifth, one’s responsibility to educational reform is to address the education of one’s own child. Then Kumashiro believes that common sense narrows our vision to the level of the individual and defines the good teacher in a pretty narrow framing.
Chapter 2 illustrates the power of framing to influence public opinion, and highlights four prevailing frames about school reform: fear, value, standards, and competition. The fear over a failing educational system has helped to advance the standards –and-testing movement, which in turn creates opportunities for profit. The four frames of standards, accountability, sanctions, and choice become linked together by a metaphor, the strict-father family, which make the four frames inseparable from one another. The move toward standards-as-standardization has resulted in curriculum that is more stratified than before and in instruction that is more regulated than before. It is has been proven fault that competition is what will make schools and teachers better.
C. Reaction
Kumashiro tries to inspire the reader to be out-of–the–box thinkers and rethink of the going education system with following questions. What is education? What is the goal of education? What is the education in the public’s eyes? Why they think of education in these ways? What is the truth behind these common senses about education?
The two chapters enlighten me a lot. It equips me with a broader perspective through which rethink the educational reform. Education is a system which includes many elements except for teachers, students, and parents. When we think about educational reform we should take many elements into considerations, such as politicians’ trick, businessmen’ profit, culture elements and so on. What impressed me most is the way of reasoning. His logic is very clear and convincing.
I really enjoy reading this book.